I. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to material handling equipment and, more particularly, to a refuse collection apparatus including a collection receptacle and integral container lifting and emptying apparatus for use during collection efforts.
II. Related Art
Recyclable refuse must be separated from that which is not recycled at some point in the collection process. Separation may conveniently be made at the point of collection. To this end, refuse collection systems have been built which include vehicles and material collection and storage receptacles having a plurality of compartments wherein each compartment is dedicated to a particular type or types of refuse. Types of refuse typically separated include glass, aluminum, plastic, paper and non-recyclable material. In these point of collection systems, refuse is deposited into dedicated compartments in the collection and storage receptacle which is, in turn, unloaded into a corresponding compartment in the collection vehicle container.
A multi-compartment vehicle for unloading and receiving the contents of corresponding multi-compartment collection receptacles is described and shown in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/389,097, filed Feb. 15, 1995, now abandoned, titled "Multiple Compartment Body for Waste Materials", by Ronald E. Christenson, the inventor herein, which is assigned to the same assignee as the present invention and the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference for any necessary purposes. That application describes a refuse hauling vehicle including a multi-compartment truck body and a front or side loading, fork-type, lift and dump mechanism which lifts and dumps a multi-compartment collection receptacle into the receiving hopper of the truck body. The collection receptacle is of the large hopper, free standing dumpster variety which is periodically unloaded at the point of collection and remains on-site.
Other containers of the multi-compartment class are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,071,303 and 5,222,853, issued to Carson, which describe a multi-compartment collection receptacle having a plurality of dedicated compartments with corresponding locking lids. During the dumping operation, a collection receptacle compartment is positioned above a corresponding dedicated compartment in a multi-compartment vehicle and the lid is opened to release the refuse contained therein into the vehicle. A collection receptacle lifting mechanism is mounted on the vehicle body on a rail in a manner that allows it to slide along the length thereof to index or position the collection receptacle as required for unloading.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,035,563; 5,163,805; 5,205,698; and 5,303,841, issued to Mezey, illustrate side loading or front loading, multi-compartment refuse vehicles used in conjunction with corresponding multi-compartment collection receptacles or single compartment containers. The vehicles include either a side loading container grabber and lifter or a front loading, fork-type, receptacle lift and dump mechanism. The collection receptacles and containers are manually loaded and mechanically lifted above and inverted over the multi-compartment vehicle for unloading. In one system, a side loading container grabber and lifter is slidably attached to a multi-compartment vehicle or trailer for movement along the length thereof which enables the device to dump a single compartment container into a selected one of several separate trailer compartments.
A somewhat different approach is described and shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,308,211, issued to Bayne, in which a collection receptacle itself is provided with an attached refuse cart tipper for unloading smaller containers or cans of interest into the receptacle which may, in turn, be emptied into a larger refuse hauling vehicle having a fork-type lift and dump mechanism. However, that cart tipper is not able to empty the smaller container into a selected one of a plurality of compartments in a multi-compartment collection receptacle and the smaller container must be manually loaded onto the cart tipper.
Heretofore, container lifting and emptying devices have not been built to selectively position a container above a plurality of compartments in a collection receptacle. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,401,407, issued to Breckenridge, and 5,026,104, issued to Pickrell, describe and show grasping devices connected to extensible boom systems which may be lifted to raise an engaged container above one position along the length of a refuse vehicle. However, neither the grasping device and support arm nor the extensible boom situate the engaged container above a plurality of positions along the length of the truck.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,330,308, issued to Armando et al, describes an automatic container lifting and emptying apparatus including an extensible boom which can pivot vertically to raise an engaged container above the refuse vehicle and horizontally to pivot the container in a partial circle as it is positioned above the truck body. However, that system has limited versatility and cannot situate the container above more than one position along the length of the truck body and although it is provided with an attached grasping device which can pivot in a circle at the end of the extensible boom along an axis transverse to the direction of travel of the telescoping boom, the device cannot address a plurality of positions along the length of the truck body.
The separation of materials at the point of collection is becoming, and in the future will become an even more important consideration in the disposal of refuse. Consequently, a collection apparatus including a container lifting and emptying apparatus which can dump containers into a plurality of compartments in an attached collection receptacle and which does not require translation along the length thereof is needed to address the separation of recyclable materials.